Axel Lowe on social media said he’s coming back to Atlanta radio on Thursday but didn’t say where.
UPDATE: He confirmed on Wednesday that, yes, he will host mornings on 97.1/The River.
Lowe left 99X voluntarily in late March, saying at the time that he had “an amazing new opportunity. I can’t reveal for a few months.” Today, he confirmed he will be back on air Thursday but still couldn’t say which station due to a standard six-month non-compete clause in his 99X contract.
Given his background in rock music and the fact there are only two rock stations in Atlanta, his likeliest new employer will be the No. 1 station in town 97.1/The River, which plays mostly classic rock hits from the 1970s and 1980s. The morning slot there was left open after Steve Craig departed in December and returned to 99X in June.
Both Craig and Lowe are original members of the alternative rock station 99X from 1992 and stuck around for the entire first run from 1992 to 2008. Lowe, who has largely done afternoons on air in Atlanta over the years, stayed with Rock 100.5, 99X’s effective replacement, for the next 14 years. He was still with Atlanta-based Cumulus Media when chief content officer Brian Phillips, who ran 99X in the 1990s, decided to kill the harder rock Rock 100.5 in December in favor of resurrecting the original 99X in terms of format, sound and personality.
99X, so far, has since done better in ratings than Rock 100.5 had been doing. The station also brought back its original nighttime host Will Pendarvis and two-thirds of its morning show in Leslie Fram and Steve Barnes as well as weekend host Matt Jones.
Lowe’s personal tastes lean more harder rock than alternative rock. Craig, who was at The River for a decade and is now 99X’s midday host and program director, is more a fan of alternative rock.
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